Index

Mail Aliases

  1. Overview
  2. Setting Up
  3. Usage
  4. Domain Redirection

Overview

A feature that many TeleFinder users and sysops would like is the ability for one user to be able to have more than one email address. This is provided by the Mail Aliases feature of OAT.

When someone sends mail to a mail alias, the mail is redirected to the real user's account. For example, if someone sends mail to jp@highlander.net.uk, it will be sent on to me at jonathan_paisley@highlander.net.uk.

It is also possible to instruct OAT to readdress outgoing mail.

Setting Up

Before you can use Mail Aliases, you must first set up Mail Filtering.

Configuration of Mail Aliases uses the 'Mail Aliases' file, found in the Configuration Files folder. Each line details the aliases for a different user. The first item is the real user name, followed by a tab delimited list of aliases. For example 

Jonathan Paisley <tab> jp <tab> webmaster <tab> jon <return>
Note: there are no no spaces between each item and the tabs, the spaces above are purely aesthetic.

If you want a particular user to be able to send mail from any account (useful if you are the sysop), then include an asterix (*) as one of the aliases.

If you want a particular alias to be used by default on outgoing mail for a user, place an exclamation point (!) in front of the alias. For example:

Jonathan Paisley <tab> jp <tab> webmaster <tab> !jon <return>

Usage

Incoming mail will automatically be directed to the proper account. In order to send mail from an alias name, you must inform OAT to readdress your outgoing mail by placing the required 'from' address at the end of the 'to' address, separated by a hash (#) symbol, as follows:

To: Ken Sutherland#jp

The above mail would get to Ken Sutherland and appear to have come from a user called 'jp'. If the user sending the mail is not allowed to use a particular alias (ie it's not listed in the Mail Aliases file or they don't have an asterisk [*] in the Mail Aliases file) then the mail will simply not be readdressed.

Domain Redirection

An alias definition that begins with a dollar sign ($) indicates a default domain to be used for outgoing mail from the given account.

For example: Jonathan Paisley <tab> jp <tab> $my.own.domain.name.net.uk <tab> jon <return>

In this instance, all my outgoing mail would come from the address 'Jonathan_Paisley@my.own.domain.name.net.uk'. Of course, it is up to the sysop to ensure that the domain names entered are in fact local BBS domains.

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